


The Fishiest, The Fiercest

by otakucat



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drag Queen AU, Drag Queens, M/M, Rivals to Lovers, RuPaul's Drag Race - Freeform, RuPaul's Drag Race References
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-30 13:17:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10163831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/otakucat/pseuds/otakucat
Summary: Armin Arlert and Eren Yeager are two young, competing drag queens. In the fierce world of drag, which one of these two queens will come out on top (or bottom) – or will some other queen steal the show?Drag Queen AU





	1. Chapter 1: Prequel - Armin's Application

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment if you enjoy! =)
> 
> This is just meant as a cute, little fic I am pumping out freeform because sometimes I just want to write something fun and light with short (but frequent) updates. :D
> 
> Check out my longer, more serious Eremin story here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/9874001

Makeup. Shoes. Hair. Dress.

Check, check, check, and check!

‘Damn, I look good’, Armin thought to himself as he consulted the mirror.

With his face beat and his female attire donned, he presented one hell of a fishy queen! He’d lost count of the times men had mistaken him for a real woman while in drag. After all, even when out of drag, Armin had quite a feminine face and figure. He used to hate this fact when he was younger – a product of both bullying and innate insecurity, but had grown to love and appreciate it since entering the world of drag queens.

He chuckled to himself.

 _‘Man, if I could go back and tell myself how much I’d come to appreciate my girly features…well, I probably wouldn’t believe it, but that’s another matter,’_ he mused.

Having always been slightly different, Armin was thankful he had found an outlet for his high creativity and energy – and love for wacky, gender-bending fashion. The fact that his features were beneficial was just another plus.

He looked himself up and down once more in the mirror and nodded. Everything looked perfect - he was ready.

Walking over to a camera he had placed atop a tripod in the middle of his room, he took a deep breath and hit record.

“Hi judgeees,” he began in a sing-song voice, “I’m Mini Minnow and I’m about to show you why choosing me as one of the competitors for the next season of Drag Race is **_the only_** choice! I’m serving up fierceness and performances so sickening you can’t get them from any other girl!”

“And just between us girls, my names not the only thing that’s a mouthful,” he continued, punctuating the statement with an exaggerated wink to the camera.

After a few demonstrations of his outfits, skills, and determination, he ended the video and proceeded to fill out the various required forms.

Within a couple hours he had finished editing, confirming relevant details, and working up the nerve to actually submit his application.

Biting his lip, he stopped himself from thinking about everything that could go wrong and finally hit “send”.

Everybody in drag knew this show was the place to be – it was how careers were made and dreams were realised. All across the country, thousands of queens were attempting to make it, but only fourteen lucky performers would be given the chance.

In various cities in various states, thirteen other queens applied just like Armin, all hoping against hope that they would be one of the lucky few given the chance of a lifetime.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

No way.

No **_way_**!

He couldn’t believe it… He was in!

Grabbing his phone off his desk, Armin frantically called his grandfather.

“Grandpa, I did! I just got an email, I’m going to be in the next season of Drag Race! Oh my god, I can’t believe it! Isn’t this amazing?” the words tumbled out of his mouth.

“Haha, I knew you would! You’re so talented, I never doubted that they would see that,” the old man replied.

Armin smiled at the comment. He was so thankful for his grandfather’s support. Two years ago, when Armin was only 16, his parents discovered the fact that he is gay. They immediately disowned him, kicking him out of the house and cutting off all contact.

Shocked at how the boy’s parents had reacted, Armin’s grandfather stepped in and allowed the teen to move in with him. Ever since, the man had been Armin’s greatest supporter, both in his sexuality as well as his pursuit of drag. Armin didn’t even want to think what he would do without him.

“Thanks, grandpa! I’m so excited! God, I’m so nervous too though! What if they don’t like me? What if I go home **_first_**?” the blonde’s voice almost turned into a shriek at the word, “Oh god, my life would be over.”

“Calm down, calm down,” the old man chuckled.

“There’s no point worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet – something that I can assure you is highly unlikely to happen at all. At worst, the odds are 1 in 14 that you go home first, that’s a very low chance!” he continued, knowing how badly Armin needed reassurance based on logic and statistics.

“Anyway, there is no point getting anxious now, you’ll just have to ‘turn it out’ and be ‘sickening’, as your drag friends would say,” he finished.

“Oh god, you’re using drag slang now! What have I done?” the boy groaned.

“I’ll be sure to learn even more to embarrass you with at the award ceremony after you win the competition,” the old man teased, smiling at the fact that his grandson’s voice no longer sounded so frantic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drag queen slang dictionary:  
> Beat = to have your makeup put on and done well  
> Fishy = the more like a real woman the queen looks, the “fishier” she is
> 
> You can blame my rewatching RuPaul's Drag Race for this story. :P If you haven’t seen it yet, go watch it! it is AMAZING! :D
> 
> I got the inspiration for “Mini Minnow” from a story by shingekicat you should read: http://archiveofourown.org/works/9449660


	2. Chapter 2: The first elimination

Pink curtains.

Just beyond those thin pieces of fabric were his hopes, his dreams, his fears…his future.

It was the first day of the competition and Armin was on set. He had just been instructed to enter the workroom for the first time and freaking out inside.

_‘Come on, Armin, you got this!’_ he thought, attempting to give himself a pep talk.

_‘You’re smart, funny, fishy, and have a unique fashion sense. There is nothing to worry about! Everybody else should be worried about **you**!’_

Somebody tapped him on the shoulder.

“Come on, the tape is rolling and you’re up.”

The time for hesitation was over. Whatever lay beyond those curtains - victory, defeat, or something else…he was ready to find out.

Strutting forward in his high heels, he pulled the curtains up and walked in to find…

…

…

That he was alone.

Apparently, he was the contestant chosen to be the first introduced to those watching the new season. He was torn between feeling relief at being able to meet the other contestants one by one and annoyance at having to wait around the longest – his nerves already stretched thin.

Thankfully, it was only one or two (very long) minutes until the second contestant entered.

As he walked through the curtains, the tall queen dressed in a funky, red space-age dress and choppy brunette wig announced “Its Mary Meh, bitcheeeees and y’all don’t stand a chance!”

Upon seeing who it was, Armin broke out into a large, genuine smile.

He couldn’t believe it. What were the odds that the first contestant he met would be somebody he already knew? Even better, his old best friend! Marco “Mary” Bott had been his best friend until he was 16, when he had to move upstate with his grandfather – making it near impossible to hang out anymore.

“Oh my god, Mary, I’m so happy to see you!”

“Armin, is that you?!” he asked in disbelief.

“It’s ‘Mini Minnow’ and YES, it is!” he shouted back excitedly.

“Wow, I had no idea you were going to be here!”

“Yeah, non-disclosure agreements and all…,” Armin trailed off. “Anyway, this is going to make competing so much more fun! Well, until I have to beat you, that it,” he finished with a sassy wink.

“Haha, well I wouldn’t count on that, hunty,” Marco replied. “Hmmm, I wonder if we are going to see anybody else we know?”

“Girl, I don’t think we know anybody else fierce enough,” Armin remarked, cocking his hip and opening his mouth in a pose perfectly conveying the phrase ‘as if’.

_‘Gotta make sure I act entertaining enough… That’s almost certainly gonna factor in when it comes to who they decide to vote off each week. The boring ones will probably go first,’_ Armin strategized.

“Ha, I don’t even think **_you two_** are fierce enough. Nobody is compared to Jeannette,” a not-so-feminine voice interrupted.

Turning towards the newcomer, the two took in the sight. Despite the sad attempt at masking a naturally deep voice, ‘Jeannette’ was actually rather impressive. The queen was wearing a tan faux-military outfit that looked like it could fit right in on the set of some horror fantasy show, yet still managed to stay feminine looking and fierce.

Marco leaned over, whispering so only Armin could hear, “Ohh, I’m gonna call trade on this one.”

“Ha, maybe. It’s hard to tell,” the blonde responded.

“What’s the ‘t’? You girls throwing shade over there?,” Jeannette inquired.

“We don’t need to when you come in dressed like that,” Armin joked, quirking his eyebrow for emphasis.

One by one, the remaining contestants streamed into the room, most entering with some form of snarky remark. The contestants seemed to be a good mix of comedy, beauty, horror, oddball, and high fashion queens.

Once all had entered, a video began playing on the large screen behind them all - announcing they would now be receiving their first challenge.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

“Oh man, I am so ready for a cocktail,” one of the queens commented, producing a chorus of agreements from the rest.

Now that the first challenge had been completed – and the elimination that followed, the reality that they were all here was truly sinking in.

Despite that, the contestant’s moods were all high as they entered the house they would be staying in throughout the competition. They had all survived the first elimination! Many, such as Armin, could sleep easy knowing their worst fear would not be realised – and shift focus to the long haul.

Once the queens had chosen rooms and gotten back into their non-drag outfits, they convened for an unofficial meeting in the living room.

“To surviving the first competition,” one of the boys spoke, holding his glass up for a toast.

“To surviving”, “To winning”, and other phrases were cheered in response as they all toasted.

Armin looked around the room. While a few looked similar to their drag personas, many looked remarkably different out of drag. He knew he shouldn’t have been surprised, but the difference was still jarring.

Halfway through scanning the room, he suddenly stopped.

_‘Wow, he’s actually kind of cute out of drag,’_ he thought, his gaze locked onto a guy of average height, rocking medium-length messy brown hair. His name was Eren, if Armin recalled correctly, and his drag persona was the rather feisty “Titania”. Armin thought the name was kind of odd, but assumed it had something to do with towering over the competition or some other lame backstory.

The boy seemed to be keeping to himself, so Armin decided to go over and get to know him better.

“Hey, kinda sucks being safe, doesn’t it?” - Eren, like Armin, had been judged “safe” in the first competition, neither top 3 nor bottom 3.

“Yeah, it could be a lot worse though!”

“That’s for sure. I’m Armin btw, Minnow’s true form, haha.”

“Yeah, I figured. Not too hard to guess that, shorty.”

“Ha, maybe not. So how come you’re not chatting it up with everybody else?”

“I don’t really see the point in getting to know a bunch of lame pageant sheep and failed comedians. Besides, in a few weeks most of you will have gone home anyway.”

“…okaaaay then,” Armin muttered, walking away and shaking his head in disapproval.

Eren may be cute, Armin decided, but he was kind of a bitch.

_‘I guess I’m throwing **that** option out the window.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drag queen slang dictionary:  
> Hunty = a drag way of saying “honey” (pretty self-explanatory, but whatever :P)  
> Trade = a term you call a drag queen you think is good looking when they aren’t in drag  
> The ‘T’ = gossip  
> Shade = talking shit about somebody…


End file.
